Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/810

606 General History of Europe failure for Germany, since France was left in possession of Morocco, and they demanded stronger action in future. Imperial- ists in France and England were angered at the bold way Germany had apparently tried to humble them before the world and were bitter that Germany got any satisfaction at all. The result was that all nations increased their warlike preparations. IV. THE NEAR-EASTERN QUESTION 1099. The Balkan Imbroglio. Although war between Ger- many and the Entente powers was avoided by a narrow margin in 1911, the fatal conflict was only being postponed. Conditions in the Balkan region, in which Austria-Hungary and Russia were vitally interested, were destined to lead to the final catastrophe in which the ancient dynasties of the Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs and all their ambitions and pretensions came to a tragic end. In a former chapter we traced the gradual disruption of Turkey during the nineteenth century and the emergence of the Balkan states of Serbia, Greece, Rumania, and Bulgaria. Russia, it will be recollected, claimed to be the natural protector of the Slavic peoples of the Balkan region. When the Serbian and Bulgarian people, driven to desperation by the atrocities of the Turks, had revolted, in 1876, Russia had come to their aid and defeated the armies of the Sultan. Then Austria-Hungary and England had intervened and induced the Tsar to submit the whole Balkan matter to the Congress of Berlin. Here it was decided by the powers that Serbia, Rumania, and little Montenegro should be free and independent of the Turkish rule and that Bulgaria should also be independent except for the payrnent of tribute to the Sultan. The provinces of Bosnia and the small territory called Herzegovina, to the south, were taken from the Turkish govern- ment and turned over to Austria to administer. 1100. Dissatisfaction with the Berlin Settlement. No one was satisfied with the compromises made at Berlin. A few years later (1885) Bulgaria quietly annexed the district south of her (Eastern Rumelia) and so considerably increased her territory.